Reviewed by Brandy Shaul
I’ll have to admit that I had never heard of the Red Bull BC One Championships before picking up Ignition’s newest offering for the DS. In fact, by referring to break dancing as anything other than “break dancing”, I became instantly lost and only after starting to play the game did I realize that that’s what “b-boying” was referring to. Boy, do I feel out of the loop…
Nevertheless, Red Bull BC One offers players the chance to create their own character and make their way through the various competitions on the “b-boying” circuit (by the way, am I the only one that sees how sexist that term is? Can’t girls break dance too?).
There are limited options available in the character customization process, with only the basics like tops and pants of various colors being immediately available. More outfits are unlocked as you progress through the game, but unless you’re obsessed with the game’s unique *cough* ugly graphical design, there’s really no point in going back to change anything.
The actual gameplay itself is simple enough: during each battle, you’re shown various color-coded dots, squares, triangles, etc. and in an old-school connect-the-dots sort of way, will be challenged with connecting the appropriate “dots” to make various geometric shapes within a set time limit. After completing a shape, your character will perform various moves on the top screen. The more complex the shape, the more complex or wild the dance move that’s performed, with many eliciting cheers from the crowd.
The game’s box brags about offering over 70 different dance animations, but you’ll be so concentrated on frantically connecting the shapes on the touch screen that you’re likely to never notice them. There’s an available replay at the end of each battle, but even then, only those who are truly interested in watching block-headed caricatures would get anything out of them.
The entire concept of the game is very reminiscent of Elite Beat Agents, for those that are familiar with it, in the sense that as you progress, more dots will cover the touch screen, and the time limit for creating shapes will decrease. For instance, in the first level, there are only four red dots on the screen, but by the end of the game (or the 36th level), there are around 12 or more of each color, with at least three colors on the screen at once.
During each battle, you’ll also have to take part in two mini-games ranging from simple variations of Simon Says to more traditional connect-the-dot sequences which have you tracing the outline of a break-dancer in mid-pose.
Disappointingly enough, the game offers little in the way of challenge until you are almost halfway through the game, and by the time the difficulty does start to rise, you’ve likely spent enough time with the system to understand the best way to increase your score, with that being to simply connect the dots in the biggest shape possible, no matter how organized that shape may be, and then simply sit back and watch until the next set of dots appears.
Also missing from the title is any sort of storyline. After being informed that you’re an insatiable “b-boy” fanatic, you’re set loose in the game, with the only character interactions coming in the form of bad-mouthing your opponent before each battle.
Where this trash-talking is often funny when done in movies and the like, here it is completely laughable, filled with bad grammar and cheesy phrases like “Boy! Betta go back to yo mamma”. It may fit the theme of the game but seriously, do people still talk like that?
Continuing with the negativity, the graphics are entirely disappointing. Each person in the game, whether your own character, your opponent, or member of the crowd is a blocky representation of a human figure (that is, created with little more than 90 degree angles) with no eyes or other distinguishing characteristics. The worst part about this situation is that it seems to have been done on purpose, as the game touts itself as having cool, hip graphics. If this is what hip and cool has transformed into over the years, then I’m even farther out of the loop than I feared.
Luckily, the touch screen fairs much better in terms of appearances, with the whole screen being clean and uncluttered, with the time bar being the only item on it other than the “dots”. With what the rest of the game looks like, however, that compliment is pretty easy to achieve.
Furthermore, the game’s soundtrack does offer one glimmer of promise for the title, as the 35 different musical tracks do offer enough variety in the way of hip-hop and electronica to entertain, even if the game is just as easy to play with no sound at all. In fact, playing the game silently might almost be preferred by some players who are easily distracted or who simply don’t wish to hear the “cheering audience” sound effect loop dozens of times per battle.
In the end, Red Bull BC One may offer a unique view of a sport that doesn’t get much outside recognition, but in trying to offer a game with simple enough difficulty that anyone, fan of the sport or not, could enjoy, Playlogic and Ignition have actually alienated the gaming industry’s hardcore puzzle fans who would have been most likely to pick this one up in the first place.
With 36 levels, this isn’t to say that the game is entirely without its fun moments, but when the title can be so easily compared to games like Elite Beat Agents, it’s a quick jump to simply play those better games instead.